After making a glut of phone calls to try and get players out for a refixed game against Portrane that clashed directly with the Irish rugby game, Rob eventually bit the bullet and lined out for the men’s 3s – his first game in eight years after numerous players could not make it due to injury, ticket reasons and so on.

Lo and behold, after a titanic tussle out at ALSAA, Rovers pushed on one last time with three minutes to go after the previous 67 minutes had proven goal-less and all but chanceless. But the ball weedled its way to the fearless leader who smacked home a winner with a deft turn on the penalty spot to give the side their first win of the season! Chuck and Stiff suggested it might have been Rob’s first goal in over 20 years; he couldn’t remember when he had last scored!

Elsewhere, the men’s first advanced to the semi-final of the Irish Senior Cup, making it a bit harder than it should have been with a 5-3 win over Kilkeel. Peter Blakeney’s hat-trick and one from Shane Madeley had us 4-1 before they got back into it, needing a late Alastair Haughton goal to seal the win.

The semi-finals of the Irish Senior will be played on March 23 with the final taking place the next day so mark your diaries for that one. The draw to see who our opponent will be made sometime in early 2013 but this is certainly a huge achievement for Joe Brennan and his emerging team. Well done lads.

The ladies first remain unbeaten with a 0-0 draw against Old Alex. The result leaves them in fourth place in division two and the best placed of the first teams in the division after five rounds of matches.

The ladies 4ths fell 3-1 to Avoca. The ladies seconds bowed out of the cup to UCD and the men’s 4ths lost 5-4 in Naas with Rob Haughton netting a couple of goals.

Finally, congrats to Mitch Darling and former club member Andy McConnell who have both been named in the Irish senior squad who travel to Argentina for the Champions Challenge I tournament